1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods for preparing aryl compounds having a multiplicity of nitro groups attached. More specifically, this invention relates to a method for the preparation of hexanitrobenzene.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hexanitrobenzene is of great interest to those concerned with explosives. Aryl compounds with large numbers of nitro groups on the rings are well known to be explosives. A typical example is trinitrotoluene which is more commonly known simply as TNT. Orlova reports a method for preparing hexanitrobenzene in "Chemistry and Technology of High Energy Explosive Substances," Khimia (1973). However, the authors of this specification were unable to duplicate the results of the Russian author. Accordingly, the authors of this specification, after a considerable amount of experimentation, developed the hereinafter disclosed method for the preparation of hexanitrobenzene.